Method for Consolidatin Medical Records Through the World Wide Web

1. A method of managing patient information, comprising the steps of: acquiring patient information from medical instruments or imaging systems and existing medical records, including film and documents; storing the information on one or more computer networks associated with medical practices or institutions; providing one or more interfaces to a wide-area network independent from the computer networks associated with the medical practices or institutions, the interfaces allowing access to the information by the patient's physician or clinician; and wherein the interfaces further provide secure access to the information directly by the patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the wide-area network is the internet; and the interfaces are web browsers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interface allowing access to the information by the patient permits one or more of the following operations: self-registration by the patient, requests for the uploading of medical records from a medical institution, non-patient access authorization, and review of the patient's medical record.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interface allowing access to the information by the patient's physician or clinician permits one or more of the following operations: registration of one or more patients, uploading of patient records, remote instrumentation interfacing, and authorized record review.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring patient information from medical instruments or imaging systems uses an HL7 format.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring patient information existing medical records, including film and documents uses a clinical observation and analysis system (COAS).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information from existing medical records is converted into a GIF, TIFF, JPEG or DICOM file.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein information from existing medical records is stored in raw and OCR versions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information from medical instruments or imaging systems is contained in a GIF, TIFF, JPEG or DICOM file.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information from medical instruments or imaging systems is stored in raw and OCR.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein some or all of the interfaces use encryption and decryption to protect patient privacy.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the encryption and decryption is based upon public or private key cryptography.